1954 Fordham Rams football team

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1954 Fordham Rams football
ConferenceIndependent
Record1–7–1
Head coach
Home stadiumPolo Grounds
Seasons
← 1953
1964 →
1954 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Hobart   –   8 – 0 – 0
Juniata   –   8 – 0 – 0
Pennsylvania Military   –   7 – 0 – 0
Trinity (CT)   –   7 – 0 – 0
Worcester Tech   –   6 – 0 – 0
Carnegie Tech
   –   7 – 0 – 1
Boston College   –   8 – 1 – 0
Boston University   –   7 – 2 – 0
Hofstra
   –   7 – 2 – 0
No. 20 Penn State   –   7 – 2 – 0
Tufts   –   6 – 2 – 0
Brown   –   6 – 2 – 1
Drexel   –   5 – 2 – 0
Bucknell   –   6 – 3 – 0
Colgate   –   5 – 2 – 2
Princeton   –   5 – 3 – 1
Yale   –   5 – 3 – 1
Cornell   –   5 – 4 – 0
Harvard   –   4 – 3 – 1
Syracuse   –   4 – 4 – 0
Pittsburgh   –   4 – 5 – 0
Franklin & Marshall   –   3 – 5 – 0
Temple   –   3 – 5 – 0
Dartmouth   –   3 – 6 – 0
Holy Cross   –   3 – 7 – 0
Buffalo   –   2 – 7 – 0
Fordham   –   1 – 7 – 1
Columbia   –   1 – 8 – 0
Villanova   –   1 – 9 – 0
Penn   –   0 – 9 – 0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1954 Fordham Rams football team represented

Johnny Druze, at the time a line coach with Notre Dame; Harry Jacunski, at the time a line coach with Yale and two long shots who were each successful in the high school ranks. They were Ray Riddick, at the time head coach of Lowell High School's powerhouse program in Massachusetts and Leo Paquin, in charge of Xavier High School's program in Manhattan.[2]

In the end none of the five were chosen.[3] Instead, sighting poor attendance numbers and financial losses of $100,000 per year, the school decided to drop its football program on December, 15th.[4][5]

Alumni, many hoping Lombardi would be named head coach, led a campaign to cover all operating costs for the 1955 season and honor an already announced schedule [6] in the process. The university however stood by their decision.[7][8][9][10] After more pushing, the alumni movement was finally abandoned in May, 1955.[11] With that came the lost opportunity at hiring, arguably, the single greatest football coach of all time. They also lost the services of freshmen quarterbacks Chuck Zimmerman and Jim Reese who had platooned the freshman team to a promising 3-1 record. Reese transferred to Minnesota where in 1958 he became the first Golden Gopher to throw for 200 yards in a game. Zimmerman transferred to Syracuse where in that same season he threw for over 700 yards while leading the Orangemen to the Orange Bowl.

Schedule

DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
October 2at
Rutgers
W 13–710,000[12]
October 9at Boston University
L 20–5518,000[13]
October 16Boston College
L 7–2113,676[14]
October 23at Marquette
T 14–1419,500[15]
October 29at No. 10 Miami (FL)
L 7–7537,498[16]
November 6at No. 17 West Virginia
L 9–3910,000[17]
November 13Holy Cross
  • Polo Grounds
  • New York, NY
L 19–2013,557[18]
November 20Syracuse
  • Polo Grounds
  • New York, NY
L 7–2010,423[19]
November 27Villanova
  • Polo Grounds
  • New York, NY
L 0–419,699[20]
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

References

  1. ^ "Danowski Resigns After 9 Seasons as Fordham's Football Coach; DRUZE, LOMBARDI IN LINE FOR POST but Fordham Plans Screening of All Applicants for Job Vacated by Danowski".
  2. ^ "Reference at digital.library.fordham.edu".
  3. ^ "Fordham Football 'Under Advisement' with No Decision Reached on Retention".
  4. ^ "Reference at digital.library.fordham.edu".
  5. ^ "Fordham Abandons Football, Citing 'Continuing Financial Loss'; SPORT IS DROPPED AFTER 63 SEASONS Fordham's Defection Leaves Columbia as City's Only Major College Eleven".
  6. ^ "FORDHAM TO PLAY NINE GAMES IN '55; Will Renew Football Series with Penn State, Missouri in First Two Games".
  7. ^ "Reference at digital.library.fordham.edu".
  8. ^ "FORDHAM RETAINS STAND; Sticks to Decision to Abandon Football Despite Pressure".
  9. ^ "FORDHAM ALUMNI IN FOOTBALL DRIVE; Seek to Raise $100,000 to Revive Sport Dropped by University in December".
  10. ^ "FORDHAM ALUMNI START FUND DRIVE; Group Seeks to Raise Money to Save Football Despite Opposition of School".
  11. ^ "FORDHAM ALUMNI QUIT FUND DRIVE; Abandon Move to Reinstate Football Because School's Officials Oppose It".
  12. Newspapers.com
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  17. Newspapers.com. Attendance figure in "Mountaineers Whip Rams, 39-9". The Pittsburgh Press
    . Pittsburgh, Pa. November 7, 1954. sect. 4, p. 2.
  18. Newspapers.com
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  19. Newspapers.com
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  20. Newspapers.com
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